Letters from home

Eavesdown Docks were a bustle of activity. Not really surprising, considering the breadth of docking bays, landing pads, shanties, markets, and everything else that made up the sprawling facility. Technically, Eavesdown was a minor port in the grand scheme of Persephone's commercial shipping activities. But that technicality belied the fact that there were more people living and working in this port-that-was-a-city than lived on the surface of most Border and Rim colonies.

I'd left messages for a number of my friends based here, including Imrhien and Jai, though I hadn't gotten an acknowledgement back from either of them as yet. Considering how busy both were with their own endeavors, I wasn't worrying about it. If I caught up with them, great. If not, there would be other opportunities.

While I'd reached the general vicinity of the area of both old friends and my primary contact, my timing appeared to be somewhat off. So, with a few hours to kill, and relax after dealing with a couple of local manuke, I settled in to try what locally passed for coffee and catch up on a few of the waves that had come in.

I'd talked to Genni Foxtrot on the way in about how to deal with the aftermath of the fire and the rock strike in town. She'd gotten good at her job, so I had faith in her ability to handle it. Most of the locals were used to her handling the colony's administrative duties and speaking in my stead when the need arose. But dealing with the Alliance was a different animal entirely.

Things had gotten out of hand in my absence. The Sheriff's department was completely overwhelmed, and the Militia was too busy helping deal with the damage to do a lot of policing on their own. While long term colonists wouldn't even consider stealing from each other, as their survival was too intertwined, some of the newer arrivals didn't have that same sense of community. The colony had grown a lot since I'd taken office and some of that growth had gotten unhealthy.

But Martial Law?

Not good. Silvermane had at least brought relief supplies when she'd come down with a contingent from the IAV Abraham Sinkov, and done us the kindness of assigning Lieutenant Xeltentat and his platoon as the main force. But I knew how this worked. The Sinkov was on rotation. There'd be times some other Frigate or patrol boat would be darkening our skies, and we knew full well that not all of the Platoon leaders were quite so civil when it came to dealing with colonists.

I'd get a wave off to Colonel Silvermane and find out what her plans were. She was a good soldier and took her job seriously, but it was also a big job and dealing with a mess on my little slice of heaven was probably a bit of an annoyance.

Having troops on the surface simplified my position in Intel, but radically complicated my job as Mayor of the colony and de-facto governor of Hale's Moon.

Just what I needed.

Could the timing have been worse?